Brassiere and shoulder strap



Aug. 31, 1965 F. KAPLAN 3,203,425

BRASSIERE AND SHOULDER STRAP Filed Dec. 13, 1963 INVENTOR. Evy/W AQPm Y WWW A FTC/PMS) United States Patent 0 3,293,425 ERASSKERE AND @HUULDER STRAP Fanny i laplan, oil-44 232ml Sh, lllayside 64., NY. Filed Dec. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 330,453 3 Claims. (U. res-ere This invention relates to brassieres and like ladies undergarments, and in particular to shoulder strap constructlons therefor.

Womens dresses, gowns, blouses and like outer garments frequently are made of diaphanous materials, especially in the shoulder regions, to enable the skin of the wearer and parts of her undergarments, usually the shoulder straps, to form a background for the particular outer garment then being worn. In such cases it is generally the practice, dictated by esthetic considerations, to select an undergarment the color of the shoulder straps of which to as great a degree as possible matches or approximates the color of the outer garment, and to avoid wearing an undergarment the color of the shoulder straps of which is in vivid and markedly noticeable contrast to the color of the outer garment. It will be readily understood, therefore, that for any given wardrobe of such diaphanous outer garments, it is necessary for the owner to possess also a plurality of correspondingly colored undergarments, and that the wearer, when changing from an outer garment of one color to an outer garment of another color, must effect a similar change of her undergarments.

To the end of reducing the size of the lingerie wardrobe required because of these factors, it has heretofore been proposed to provide undergarments, especially brassieres, which are reversible and can be worn inside out by virtue of being made of backed-up layers of differently colored fabrics. Thus, the material at one side of the brassiere may be black and the material at the other side white. This proposal has, however, failed to gain any substantial acceptance by the purchasing public since it does not solve the problem of the size of the lingerie wardrobe fully, and since the wearer when changing from one diaphanous outer garment to another still finds it invariably necessary to take off the undergarment and reverse it prior to putting it on again with the surface which previously was directed toward her body facing outwardly.

It is an important object of the present invention, therefore, to provide novel undergarments, such as brassieres, which are characterized by constructional features en abling the aforesaid disadvantages and drawbacks of known undergarments of these types to be most eflicaciously overcome.

More specifically, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a novel shoulder strap construction for brassires and other lingerie articles.

It is another important object of the present invention to provide brassires, slips and like ladies undergarments with plural color shoulder straps which are constructed to be reversible in situ so as to present on their visible surfaces any selected one of the said plurality of colors.

A related object of the present invention is the provision of such ladies undergarments in which each shoulder strap has two side by side longitudinal regions of different colors on each surface thereof.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of such undergarments and shoulder straps wherein each strap is anchored at one end only at the rear of its respective garment and is adapted to be releasably connected at its other end in any selected orientation to a buckle or clamp associated with the front of the garment.

The foregoing and other objects, characteristics and 33%,4125 Patented Aug. 33., 1965 advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description there of when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view, in perspective, of a brassiere embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational View of the brassiere shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are fragmentary elevational views of the back-engaging portion of the brassiere and illustrate the retention and various orientations of the shoulder strap thereat;

FIG. 5 is a plan View of the free end region of a shoulder strap according to the present invention and illustrates the same in an expanded or flat state; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional View of the shoulder strap, taken along the line 6-6 in PEG. 5.

Referring now to the drawing in greater detail, the brassiere 1d illustrated in F165. 1 and 2 is of generally conventional construction, being composed of a plurality of pieces of fabric material suitably patterned and stitched together to define a pair of breast-receiving pockets 11 and a pair of strap-like or panel portions 12. the free ends of which remote from the pocket portion of the brassiere are adapted to be connected to each other by means of hooks and eyes or like fasteners (not shown) at the back of the body of the wearer so as enable the brassiere to be secured to the body. To this extent, the brassiere construction constitutes no part of the present invention and is not further illustrated or described herein in greater detail.

The brassiere lid is provided with two shoulder straps 13 the structural features of which are most clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. As will be seen, each shoulder strap 13 is composed of four elongated fabric tapes 1d, 15, 16 and 17 of respectively different colors and identical widths, backed up against each other in pairs. The assembly of tapes is secured into its composite form preferably by stitching running along the outer periphery of the assembly, as indicated at 13a, and along its median or center line, as indicated at 13b. Alternatively, of course, the pairs of back to back tapes lid-i7 and 15-16 may be first adhesively built up and then secured to each other by stitching along the line 13b. The so-formed central seam 1352 thus defines a longitudinal fold line for the strap. The purpose of this arrangement will become apparent as the description proceeds. Merely by way of example, the tape 14 may be black, the tape 15 pink, the tape 16 blue, and the tape 17 white.

Referring particular to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that each of the shoulder straps i3 is fixedly secured at one end to the bottom edge region of a respective one of the back-engaging portions 12 of the brassiere, as indicated at E8, and is free at its other end for selective engagement with and disengagement from an associated buckle or clasp member 19 secured to the front of the brassiere at the top edge region of the respective pocket portion 11. in accordance with a preferred aspect of the present invention, the straps 13 are anchored at the points 13 by having their respective ends stitched in an unfolded but pinched or crushed condition to the bottom edge regions of the brassicre portions 12. The points of at tachment are thereafter masked by the same covering tapes 261 which are employed to cover the folds and seams at the bottom edges of the portions 12.

Provided at the upper edge regions of the brassiere portions 12 are respective openings or eyes 21 formed, for example, by leaving small sections of the upper seamcovering tapes 2:2 unstitched, as indicated at 2.20:. The shoulder straps 13 extend through the openings 21 which are dimensioned so as to retain the straps against substantial lateral displacement while permitting both a turning or angular movement about their longitudinal axes and a folding of the straps along their center lines 13b to either the state in which the black and pink tapes 14 and 15 are on the outside or the state in which the blue and white tapes 16 and 17 are on the outside.

In use, the wearer of a brassiere constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention will have the straps 13 folded in half and so oriented with respect to the anchoring points 18 and the openings 21 that the straps, when lying straight across her shoulders, have their respective sections of the same color facing upwardly. Merely by way of example, if the straps are oriented as illustrated in FIG. 3, the visible parts thereof will be the blue tapes 16, since the black and pink tapes 14 and 15 are at the insides of the folded straps while the white tape 17 faces the body of the wearer. If, alternatively, the straps are oriented as illustrated in FIG. 4, the visible parts thereof will be the pink tapes 15, since the black tape 14 faces the body of the wearer while the blue and white tapes 16 and 17 are at the insides of the folded straps. The strap 13 in FIG. 4 will thus be seen to be the strap 13 of FIG. 3 folded inside out, and vice versa.

Should the wearer, after using the brassiere with pink shoulder straps (FIG. 4) require black shoulder straps, she need only turn the straps about their respective anchoring points through an angle of 180 so that when the shoulder straps thereafter lie over her shoulders, the pink tapes 15 will be in contact with the body while the black tapes 14- are visible. The same simple turning will let the wearer change to White brassiere straps after using the blue shoulder straps represented by the orientation of FIG. 3. A simple inversion of straps (folding inside out) initially oriented as in FIGS. 3 and 4 without turning will, of course, change the starting blue and pink straps to pink and blue straps, respectively, while an inversion accompanied by a turn will change the starting blue and pink straps to black and white, respectively.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the change from any one color of the shoulder straps to any other color can be effected by the wearer without her being compelled to remove the brassiere (or other undergarment similarly equipped) from her body for reorientation of the straps or for replacement of the entire undergarment by another one. All that is required is to release the front ends of the shoulder straps from the fastening elements 19 to perform the desired turning and/or inversions of the straps, and to reattach the straps to their respective fastening elements. The change can thus be effected quickly and easily, and there is no longer any necessity for the wearer to own a relatively large number of brassieres (or other undergarments) each provided with shoulder straps of but a single color.

The present invention is further advantageous in that it completely eliminates the need for any auxiliary lengthadjusting means in association with the shoulder straps 13, such as are normally provided in standard brassieres and the like. This will be readily understood from a consideration of FIGS. 1 and 2. Thus, the wearer when securing the free end regions of the straps 13 to the fastening elements 19 will automatically make the straps as tight, and cause them to lie as snugly over her shoulders. as she desires during the very act of donning the brassiere. Brassiere manufacturers will, therefore, be able to achieve substantial production economies inasmuch as they will be able to use shorter lengths of fabric tapes or strips per shoulder strap while avoiding both the material costs of the usual adjustment buckles and the operational costs of securing such adjustment buckles to the straps. Moreover, all brassieres of any given bust size will be automatically adapted for use by all women of that size regardless of whether they have relatively higher or lower bust lines.

It is to be understood that the preceding description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is for purposes of illustration only, and that the structural concepts and features disclosed herein are susceptible to variation and modification in a number of ways none of which involves any departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A shoulder strap for a brassiere or like ladies undergarment, said strap having four differently colored longitudinally extending sections arranged two at each face of said strap in side by side relation, and said strap having a longitudinal center fold line coinciding with the respective junctures of said sections to enable the strap to be selectively longitudinally folded along said line so as to present on that one of its surfaces which is visible when the strap is in use, any selected one of the four colors.

2. A shoulder strap for a brassiere or like ladies undergarment, comprising four strips colored differently from each other, said strips being arranged in two coextensive pairs with the two strips of each pair abutting and being secured to each other along one lateral edge of each such strip, and the two pairs of strips being secured to each other with the back of each strip of one of said pairs overlying and facing the back of a respective one of said strips of the other of said pairs so as to dispose the two lines of securing of said lateral edges of the two pairs of strips alongside each other, thereby to define a center fold line for the shoulder strap to enable the same to be selectively longitudinally folded along said line so as to present on that one of its surfaces which is visible when the strap is in use, any selected one of the four colors.

3. The combination, with a brassiere or like ladies undergarment, of two shoulder straps adapted to be extended over the respective shoulders of a wearer, each of said shoulder straps being composed of four strips colored differently from each other, said strips in each strap being arranged in two coextensive pairs with the two strips of each pair abutting and being secured to each other along one lateral edge of each such strip, and the two pairs of strips being secured to each other with the back of each strip of one of said pairs overlying and facing the back of a respective one of said strips of the other of said pairs so as to dispose the two lines of securing of said lateral edges of the two pairs of strips alongside each other, thereby to define a center fold line for the respective shoulder strap to enable the same to be selectively longitudinally folded, even While the garment is being worn, to present on its visible surface any selected one of the four colors.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,990,316 2/35 Ansell et a1. 2-301 2,055,094 9/36 Zweben 128510 2,264,972 12/41 Greenberg 2-73 2,611,130 9/52 Engelman 128-515 2,885,684 5/59 Dye et a1. 230l ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

3. THE COMBINATION, WITH A BRASSIERE OR LIKE LADIES'' UNDERGARMENT, OF TWO SHOULDER STRAPS ADAPTED TO BE EXTENDED OVER THE RESPECTIVE SHOULDERS OF A WEARER, EACH OF SAID SHOULDER STRAPS BEING COMPOSED OF FOUR STRIPS COLORED DIFFERENTLY FROM EACH OTHER, AND STRIPS IN EACH STRAP BEING ARRANGED IN TWO COEXTENSIVE PAIRS WITH THE TWO STRIPS OF EACH PAIR ABUTTING AND BEING SECURED TO EACH OTHER ALONG ONE LATERAL EDGE OF EACH SUCH STRIP, AND THE TWO PAIRS OF STRIPS BEING SECURED TO EACH OTHER WITH THE BACK OF EACH STRIP OF ONE OF SAID PAIRS OVERLYING AND FACING THE BACK OF A RESPECTIVE ONE OF SAID STRIPS OF THE OTHER OF SAID PAIRS SO AS TO DISPOSE THE TWO LINES OF SECURING OF SAID LATERAL EDGES OF THE TWO PAIRS OF STRIPS ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER, WHEREBY TO DEFINE A CENTER FOLD LINE FOR THE RESPECTIVE SHOULDER STRAP TO ENABLE THE SAME TO BE SELECTIVELY LONGITUDINALLY FOLDED, EVEN WHILE THE GARMENT IS BEING WORN, TO PRESENT ON ITS VISIBLE SURFACE ANY SELECTED ONE OF THE FOUR COLORS. 